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The Chaos Theory of Careers
Customizing Career Services: Issues and ChallengesMay 22 - 25, 2017
Ateneo de Manila University Quezon City, Philippines
Professor Jim Bright Australian Catholic University
Bright and Associates
Careers are no longer linear
A Traditional Linear CareerGraduate – Trainee – Junior manager-Manager- Senior Manager
Seniority
Time
– Maya Angelou
“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. ”
The ‘founding father’ of Career Development Frank Parsons did
not have a linear career…
Born 1854
Home educated
Private School
Cornell at 16 Reads Math (Chaos?) &
Engineering Engineer for a railroad
Financial Crash 1869
Steel Mill Laborer
Teacher Math, History, French
Passes Bar Exam 1881Legal Editor
Teacher P/T Boston University, Kansas State, Ruskin
Writes on Social Reform
Sets out ideas on Vocational Guidance
Frank Parsons as Chaos Theorist From “Choosing a Vocation”, 1909
• “We guide our boys and girls to some extent through school then drop them in this complex world” p4.
• “Boys generally drift into some line of work by chance , proximity, or uniformed selection” p4.
• “A man cannot be fully successful, nor secure against change constantly occuring in the industry, unless he knows a good deal besides the special knowledge applicable to his business” p12
why are careers chaotic?
CHANCECOMPLEXITY
A tale of ping pong, puppies, predictability and chaos
or why complexity
makes prediction
tricky
Ping pong pooch!
Good Theories• provide a compelling account of reality
• and therefore an account of career development
• provide an overarching philosophy to guide practice and education
• provide a guide for concepts to privilege and prioritise
• provide practical intervention strategies
• provide evidence of outcomes
• and assist and improve practice
Nobody likes being put in a box
Person-job Fit models a compelling account of reality?
provide a compelling account of reality
reality is reducible to predictable elements
X
and therefore an account of career development
jobs and people are stable X
provide an overarching philosophy to guide practice and education
match people to jobs X
provide a guide for concepts to privilege and prioritise
personality, interests, traits, matching
X
provide practical intervention strategies
test and tell X
provide evidence of outcomes and assist and improve practice
Arnold (2003)?? X
Chaos Theory of Careers and Shift
• Modern Career Paths involve:
• Change
• Complexity
• Chance
• Uncertainty
(e.g. Pryor & Bright, 2003ab, 2007, Bright & Pryor, 2005, 2007, 2011)
People are complex dynamical systems living in complex dynamical systems
• change is constant
• change is unpredictable
•change is constant
•change is unpredictable
Lorenz, Chaos, Weather & Prediction
Non-linearity A tiny change in the initial conditions leads to a
dramatically different outcome
In this case the change was
C=C+0.01 between A and B
LorenzModified Lorenz attractor. It is defined by
the following 3 differential equations:dx/dt=-ax+ay dy/dt=cx-y-xzdz/dt=-bz+xy
values a=10, b = 28, c= 3.99 from 3.98 x=y=z=1
A butterfly flapping its wings can be enough to turn your world upside down
21st Century Challenge: the need to balance order and change
Chance
unplanned and unpredictable events and experiences that are often crucial and sometimes determinative in the narrative of people’s careers.
Chance Events• Being in the right place in at the right time
• Being in the wrong place at the wrong time
• An unplanned work or social interaction
• An unexpected injury or illness
• An activity you unexpectedly enjoyed / did not enjoy
• An unexpected insight/message/vision/calling
• An unplanned move or change or residence
Even the best plans do not always work out
and sometimes things work out better than we could have dreamed
concepts to privilege & prioritise & Intervention Strategies
• Change Perception
• Opportunity Awareness (Luck Readiness - Flexibility, Curiosity, Optimism, Self-Efficacy, Strategy, Luckiness, Risk, Persistence)
• Adaptability
• Planmanship
• Creativity
• Slow Shift, Fast Shift, Deep Shift
Chaos Counselling Increases Self-Efficacy the most over 1 month
McKay, Bright & Pryor (2005)Chaos Traditional Control
Counselling group
Self Efficacy
Longitudinal study of High school leavers from Australian High School
Borg, Bright & Pryor (2014)
• 50% of students attending university experienced changes to their degree
• 33% students changing degree entirely
• 17% changing the major
• 71% of respondents reported unexpected change Year 12 that was ‘significant’, ‘large’ or ‘major’,
• 53% of respondents changed career interest
Chaos-informed counselling in high schools (Tony Borg, PhD)
career exploratory plans or intention scale
The Chaos Theory of Careers
people and their careers are complex, dynamic, unpredictable
embrace the complexity of clients
privilege, coach, counsel, prepare and educate
emphasising
- Complexity, Change, Chance, Creativity
In Conclusion
ContactProfessor Jim Bright
Bright and Associates
www.brightandassociates.com.au
email: jim@brightandassociates.com.au
Australian Catholic University, Sydney Australia
Connect with me on Linkedin
Join Careers Debate
group on Linkedin
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